


To Have and Have Not

by rivkat



Category: Revenge (TV)
Genre: Eight crazy nights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-21
Updated: 2011-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-27 17:29:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivkat/pseuds/rivkat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For mareen: Revenge: Nolan joins Jack and a couple of rich kids on a trip of the Amanda. They end up stranded on an island. Nolan is the least annoying of the bunch, to Jack's suprise. Could be the Rum though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Have and Have Not

**Author's Note:**

> All sailing-related stuff is purely made up. Sorry!

“If you start whistling the theme from _Gilligan’s Island_ I’m not going to be responsible for my actions,” Jack warned without turning around when Nolan stepped into the cabin. He could still hear the Wonder Twins (or maybe that ought to be the No Wonder Twins) whining off in the distance, but they weren’t making any less sense now that he couldn’t make out individual words. In a couple more hours he’d have the repairs figured out—if Nolan didn’t get in his way, which he wouldn’t even bet _Nolan_ ’s money on.

“Oh, Jack,” Nolan said, amused like he almost always was. “I never stoop to whistle.” Jack turned, because obviously he wasn’t going to get out of this without talking, never mind that the navigation system wasn’t going to fix itself, and caught Nolan licking his lips. Odd thing to notice, but then Nolan was an odd duck even among the Richie Riches.

Jack shifted on his feet. “Tell you what, then,” he said, because he wasn’t interested in—he didn’t need to be distracted right now. “If I need your help, _I’ll_ whistle.”

“You will?” Nolan asked, with what sounded like genuine delight. “Then you do know how.”

Jack’s brain itched. Once again, he was missing something, and it was probably a joke at his expense, the way it always was with these people (and, sure, Nolan wasn’t exactly like the rest of them, but close enough, and it was his close-enoughness that had them stranded out here with a couple of spoiled heirs, the _Amanda_ limping from the storm, so Jack was not going to let his irritation go any time soon). “Yeah, I know how.”

“Well,” Nolan said, and paused significantly. Jack stared at him, waiting. “If you need any pointers, I’d be happy to demonstrate.”

Jack didn’t know why, but he could feel his skin getting hotter. He really hoped the light was bad enough that Nolan couldn’t tell. “Why do I always have the feeling that you’re having a different conversation with me than the one I’m having with you?”

Nolan laughed, a cut-glass sound, and it was like he was moving away from Jack without taking a step. “Maybe because you’re smarter than you give yourself credit for, Jack. Let me know if I can be of any assistance.”

“Unless you can conjure up a circuit board, I think you’d better leave it to me.”

“Circuits? Let me take a look.” Jack gestured his permission, even though he was never 100% happy about letting anyone else work on the Amanda, and Nolan leaned over and peered into the console. “Oh my God! Is this stuff from the 1970s?”

“She was refitted in the 1990s,” Jack snapped.

“By whom? Soviet surplus?”

“Hey, if you can’t –”

“Cool your jets, captain,” Nolan said absently. “I’m working.”

There were plenty of other potential safety hazards to worry about, so Jack reluctantly left Nolan to go inspect the rest of his boat.

Naturally, Tweedledum and Tweedledumber had found Jack’s stash of booze—his only consolation was that it was much lower-class than they were used to—and in their drunken exuberance they insisted that there should be a fire, even though Jack pointed out that any driftwood they could find would be sea-soaked and that they weren’t actually aground on a real island, but a sandbar.

“What will we do for food, then?” the blonder one said, as if he’d actually thought that there’d be coconuts waiting instead.

Jack rolled his eyes. “If you’re that hungry, check out the cabinet opposite from where you found the rum,” he recommended. He could replace the Powerbars—hell, he’d make Nolan pay for them.

Clomping back to the cabin, he told Nolan, “if we _are_ stuck here, I say we eat them first,” not bothering to lower his voice.

Nolan looked up and smirked. “I didn’t pick them for their conversational skills.”

Jack almost asked, but realized that he didn’t want to know. “Any progress?”

“Eh,” Nolan said. “I should have the GPS back online in just a minute.”

“Make it fast,” Jack said. “Or I make no promises about your friends.”

For some reason, that made Nolan chuckle, and Jack as usual was torn between wanting to punch him and wanting to demand an explanation—why me, what did I do to deserve you. “Can’t you just navigate the old-fashioned way?”

“I _could_ ,” Jack said, “but I don’t know this area because we got blown way off course, and the clouds make it impossible to see anything, so my sextant won’t work.”

Nolan opened and closed his mouth. “You have no idea how filthy the joke I just refrained from making was.”

Jack thought about that, then made himself stop. “I’ll let you get back to your work. We’re seaworthy, so as soon as you’ve got us GPS, we can get moving.” And I can get you out of my hair, he added, a thought he was pretty sure Nolan could pick up just from his expression.

“Great,” Nolan said, unconvincingly.

“It’s just—if we don’t get moving soon, those two idiots are going to break something more important than the radio,” Jack explained, feeling obscurely guilty. “Next time, how about you leave them back at your swimming pool, where they can’t do as much damage?”

Nolan pursed his lips. “You mean you’d take me out all on our own?”

Jack hesitated; this was one of those moments Nolan generated on a regular basis, where Jack wasn’t even sure that they were speaking the same language. “Sure,” he said, because—he didn’t really know why, but Nolan seemed to care so much, and he _was_ fixing the Amanda, which bought him a lot of goodwill in Jack’s book, and—well, anyway. “You get us back safe and I’ll take you anywhere you want to go.”

“Somehow I doubt that,” Nolan said, more to himself than to Jack, but he was smiling anyway.


End file.
